The story

It reads like a folksy Christmas letter, updating everyone on the latest -- but the news was a grim recitation of homes obliterated and damaged by Hurricane Ike in the small Texas town of Smith Point.

"Please forgive my frankness if some of the damage mentioned is to your or your family/friends' homes and this is your first knowledge of it," wrote Jennifer Nash Anderson in a CNN.com iReport on Monday, two days after the Category 2 storm barreled ashore near Galveston, Texas.

"Dennis's boat is across Hawkins Camp Road and Lou has a dead cow in the road," Anderson continued, using the year-old Internet forum as a medium to let friends and neighbors know what had happened to their homes since phone lines were down and cell phone service was sporadic. Read full article »